The Cofactors Role on Chemical Mechanism of Recombinant Acetohydroxy Acid Synthase from Tobacco

Acetohydroxy acid synthase (AHAS) is one of several enzymes that require thiamine diphosphate and a divalent cation as essential cofactors. The active site contains several conserved ionizable groups and all of these appear to be important as judged by the fact that mutation diminishes or abolishes catalytic activity. Recently, we have shown [Yoon, M.-Y., Hwang, J.-H., Choi, M.-K., Baek, D.-K., Kim, J., Kim, Y.-T., Choi, J.-D. FEBS Letters 555 (2003), 185-191] that the activity is pH-dependent due to changes in $V_{max}$ and V/$K_m$. Data were consistent with a mechanism in which substrate was selectively catalyzed by the enzyme with an unprotonated base having a pK 6.48, and a protonated group having a pK of 8.25 for catalysis. Here, we have in detail studied the pH dependence of the kinetic parameters of the cofactors (ThDP, FAD, $Mg^{2+}$) in order to obtain information about the chemical mechanism in the active site. The $V_{max}$ of kinetic parameters for all cofactors was pH-dependent on the basic side. The pK of ThDP, FAD and $Mg^{2+}$ was 9.5, 9.3 and 10.1, respectively. The V/$K_m$ of kinetic parameters for all cofactors was pH-dependent on the acidic and on the basic side. The pK of ThDP, FAD and $Mg^{2+}$ was 6.2-6.4 on the acidic side and 9.0-9.1 on the basic side. The well-conserved histidine mutant (H392) did not affect the pH-dependence of the kinetic parameters. The data are discussed in terms of the acid-base chemical mechanism.